ROCHESTER — Police arrested a Farmington man who they say stole a wheelchair that was left for a short time near a driveway in Rochester on Jan. 22.

Kurt Bahmer, 50, of 10 Acorn Court in Farmington, was charged with misdemeanor-level theft by unauthorized taking, after police found the wheelchair in the back of his pickup truck at the Lilac Mall parking lot on Friday morning.

The motorized wheelchair was reported stolen on Jan. 21. According to police, a man with a disability had left the wheelchair in the driveway of a home at the corner of Quail Drive and Rochester Hill Road that day, after being dropped off there by the COAST bus. The man returned about 20 minutes later, after going to a store, and found his wheelchair missing.

Police Capt. Paul Toussaint said that Bahmer, picked up the wheelchair from the end of the driveway, where the victim left it. He said he could not comment on the motive of the alleged theft.

Bahmer turned himself in to police on Friday morning, after police drafted an arrest warrant for him, said Toussaint.

He said that officers were asked to be on the lookout for the wheelchair since the theft occurred.

Bahmer is currently out on $5,000 personal recognizance bail, with arraignment scheduled for Feb. 25 at Rochester Circuit Court.